Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. Buys 147,385 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 9.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,695,835 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 147,385 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 3.4% of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A.'s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $322,675,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Burling Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $14,788,000. Evercore Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Evercore Wealth Management LLC now owns 819,701 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $155,169,000 after purchasing an additional 6,047 shares in the last quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Alphabet by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 101,526 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $19,219,000 after acquiring an additional 10,541 shares in the last quarter. Tenere Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Tenere Capital LLC now owns 140,559 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $26,608,000 after acquiring an additional 9,100 shares during the period. Finally, Sirios Capital Management L P boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 52.7% in the 4th quarter. Sirios Capital Management L P now owns 7,976 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,510,000 after buying an additional 2,753 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.8 %

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $155.65 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The stock has a market cap of $1.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $163.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $175.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GOOGL. Wolfe Research upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. DA Davidson cut their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $229.00 to $195.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total transaction of $5,075,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,685,196 shares in the company, valued at $419,320,207.36. This trade represents a 1.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding GOOGL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.